IC do the double over KCL

On both Wednesday 13th and Saturday 16th of November, the ICUAFC 3rd team played the King’s College 2nd team, home and away respectively. On the Wednesday, coming off the back of some huge confidence boosting wins in both the BUCS and LUSL cups (#cuprun), the atmosphere within the squad was teething with tension to test ourselves against a respected side. When kick-off did come and was followed moments later by a clattering Taha Butt tackle, it was evident that this fixture was going to be a tightly-fought affair. Solid defending from both sides meant chances were few and far between in the first half. A tireless Francis Nwobu nearly eked a goal from a bouncy through-ball from Myles Jarvis, only to be cruelly denied with a stellar off-balance claw away from the goal line by the King’s keeper. Perhaps the best chance of the half fell to Julian Iacoponi – playing the floating role on the edge of the box at a corner – but unfortunately the ensuing bounce volley which fell to him so sweetly rose bitterly over the bar. Both teams were content with going into the half-time break at 0-0. Starting the second half with a positive mind set, Alex Whittington slipped a stellar sliding pass into the feet of Myles who, leading from the front as skipper, slotted away. Initial 1-0 nerves kicked in as some sloppy passes left the IC goal exposed, requiring some strong sweeper-keeper play from Sanjiv Dutt. Despite some sustained pressure, Miles Covers’ orbital throw-ins helped IC get back into King’s territory, and the 3s started to dominate again. With the defence becoming more compact and composed with the Anglo-French pairing of Jack ‘Allez’ Peacock and Vincent Avena ruling over the King’s attack, the 3s started penetrating behind the King’s defence with Adam Marks linking up well with Naven Ghulam up the right flank. The game was tilting in IC’s favour, and Francis began imposing himself on the towering King’s centre-halves evermore. Muscling out his opposing defender, he lofted a defence-splitting ball through to a sprinting Julian Iacoponi to challenge for a 50-50 with the King’s keeper, only for the fresher to sky his shot, again. This time however, the aerial route to goal was deliberate, with the chip-cum-lob over the goalie – despite convincing the rest of the team it was going into the hockey pitches over the fence – dropping in at as vertical an angle as possible, going into both the top and bottom corner simultaneously: not something you can say everyday about a goal! Relentless one-twos down the wing led to more crosses and corners, one of which fell to Julian, sneaking in at the back post, to slot a soft volley finish inside of the post. Right place, right time, and it was 3-0 with IC in cruise control. An audacious bicycle kick effort on goal from Alex Whittington – spectacularly saved by the opposition keeper – was the highlight of the remainder of play, whilst the back four ensured a clean sheet with yet more confident clearances and clear communication. What a victory, and what a day. The return leg on the following Saturday the 16th was away at King’s home pitches at Berrylands (#FortressB), and proved just as fruitful, with another 3-0 3-pointer secured for the magical 3s. This match-up transpired to be another cagey affair, and was indeed tighter than Alex ‘Tutti-Frutti’ Hugh-Wilson’s infamously skinny skinny-jeans. Chris Aspinall made some crucial blocks in goal to keep his sheet clean, and Adam Marks had his strongest performance of the season (if not the best performance by any player in any season) in defence and attack, timing tackles and containing the King’s flank play, whilst picking out his winger with scientific precision and reliability. This even prompted an onlooker to say, “Does your right back usually play for a higher team?” – high praise for the East Cornwall cornerback. The game was finally unlocked at the 70 minute mark, courtesy of a narrow pitch and those aforementioned rocket-like long throws from left-back Miles Covers, which somehow smallest-man-in-the-club Myles Jarvis got on the end of, to slot in an opportunistic goal. The other goals again came from the skipper-scorer-supreme: one from a cracking free-kick cross causing the King’s keeper to fumble into the net, and the other a tap in after right-winger Alex ‘Fantasy Futsal’ Hassan placed the ball expertly into that famously most uncertain of corridors, which Myles smashed in at the far post. 3-0 and the match secured, it was time for celebrations to begin.